Republican Matt Larkin will take on Rep. Kim Schrier in WA’s 8th Congressional District

Republican lawyer and businessman Matt Larkin has been elected to take on Democrat congresswoman Kim Schrier in Washington state's highly competitive eighth congressional district this coming November.

King County Councilmember Reagan Dunn conceded to Larkin on Thursday after results continued to rise in favor of Larkin. As of Thursday night, Larkin has secured 17 percent of the vote, the highest among Republican candidates in the eighth congressional district.

King County Councilmember Reagan Dunn secured 15 percent of the vote, while Republican candidate Jesse Jensen came in third with 13 percent of the vote as of Thursday.

Congresswoman Kim Schrier came off election night with a strong win against Democratic opponents and secured 48 percent of the vote.

Washington's eighth congressional district was considered to be a Republican stronghold until Democrat representative Kim Schrier flipped the district in 2018. Schrier was reelected again in 2020.

Larkin, who served in the White House under President George W. Bush, is running on tough on crime policies with the hope to restore public safety in Washington following years of progressive policies that have created a lawless society.

"For too long, Washington has been heading in the wrong direction. Crime continues to rise. Drug abuse is out of control. And the homeless situation in our state has hit a breaking point. Yet, no one is doing anything about it," Larkin wrote on his campaign website.

"Our state is in desperate need of a leader to step up to the plate and take these issues head-on. We need common sense solutions, not more job-killing tax hikes and reckless spending," Larkin said. "I am ready to fight back against those who have turned a blind eye to the issues plaguing our state, the issues that no one ever seems to deal with."

Matt Larkin, whose campaign slogan is "Make Crime Illegal Again," is a husband, father of four, and lifelong Washingtonian.

Larkin graduated from Gonzaga Law School and earned a master's of law in litigation at George Washington School of Law in Washington, D.C. He worked for a year in the White House under President George W. Bush as the associate director of presidential speech writing. He then returned to Washington state and worked for one year as a Pierce County deputy prosecutor in Tacoma, according to the Kent Reporter.

Matt Larkin hails from a successful business family and has worked alongside his father and brother at Romac, a family business founded by his grandparents, the paper reports. The company employs more than 550 people and manufactures water pipeline products.